Weroance Opitchapum

Opitchapam, also known as Itoyatin / Otiotan / Taughaiten and Sasawpen, was a Native American man of the Pamunkey Tribe and Powhatan Confederacy in 1607, at the time the English began the colonization of North America in what became the colony of Virginia. He was the younger brother of "The Great Chief Powhatan" Wahunsonacock and older brother of Opechancanough. They may have been full or half brothers but shared the same mother. In 1611 William Strachey recorded him as Weroance, jointly with his brothers Opechancanough and Kekataugh, of the Pamunkey Tribe at the head of the Pamunkey River, naming him as "Taughaiten". And noting that they supported 300 warriors. The river town he made home was Menapacute, in the Indian territory of Tsenacomoco. Wahunsonacock died and by April 1618 Opitchapam had succeeded him as Mamanatowick (Paramount Chief) of the Powhatan Confederacy and changed his name to Otiotan (Itoyatin). Opitchapam was not known to be a strong leader. During his chiefdom it appears that Opitchapam was the High Chief that handled the day to day running of the tribe but his younger brother Opechancanough was the War Chief. In 1622 Opitchapam changed his name again, as did Opechancanough. Opitchapam took the name Sasawpen while Opechancanough became Mangopeesomon. It is believed this name change had religious significance and was done in preparation for the upcoming war they had planed. On March 22 1622, under the direction of War Chief Mangopeesomon (Opechancanough), the Powhatan Confederacy launched a concerted colony wide attack on the English colonists in an attempt to drive them from their homeland. 347 settlers, men women and children, were killed, from 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire English population of Virginia. This was the start of the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. In the spring of 1623 Opitchapam invited the English to his capital on the Pamunkey River to discuss peace and to ransom his English prisoners. The English arrived, provided their hosts with tainted wine, and opened fire. It is not believed that Opitchapam died in this attack, but by 1629 he was dead and his younger brother Opechancanough had succeeded him as Mamanatowick of the Powhatan Confederacy. Opitchapam's body, after ritual preparation, probably came to rest at Uttamussak, the Powhatan Holy Temple a few miles west of Werowocomoco.

The names of Opitchapam's parents were not recorded by the English and have not been passed down through time. This is according to the Pamunkey Tribe, of which Opitchapam was a member. Only the name of one son is known, Wecuttanow, this according to noted historian Helen Rountree.
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"If you study the Pamunkey matrilineal succession that determined the rulers of the Federation, it would be highly unlikely that Totopotomoi could have been a son of Nectowance. Since Cockacoeske was later the ruler of the Federation in her own right, not because she was Totopotomoi's widow, and is known to have been Opechancanough's granddaughter, it follows that "she" was Necotowance's daughter, by his traditional wife of the matrilineal succession." ~ ~ ~ ~Bill Devo, PATAWOMECK TRIBAL HISTORIAN, emailed statement July 27, 2017